


oh no, I think I'm catching feelings

by jakey_dont_dig_on_swine



Category: Brooklyn Nine-Nine (TV)
Genre: F/M, Falling In Love, Love, Peraltiago
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-03-22
Updated: 2020-03-22
Packaged: 2021-02-28 22:27:22
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,115
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/23264701
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/jakey_dont_dig_on_swine/pseuds/jakey_dont_dig_on_swine
Summary: a little journey through Jake thinking of Amy as an annoying teacher's pet to realizing he can't live without her
Relationships: Jake Peralta/Amy Santiago
Comments: 1
Kudos: 56





	oh no, I think I'm catching feelings

**Author's Note:**

> this whole corona thing has dumped everything upside down, so naturally i started rewatching b99 (my comfort show) and have gotten deep in to many fics on here so wanted to give it a whirl. this is my first attempt so any thoughts would be appreciated! stay safe out there

Jake Peralta never really worried too much about life. He took some things seriously - he was disciplined enough to get and keep a job as an NYPD detective for example - but even there he always found ways to make the job fun. He took every opportunity he had to make a bet, play a game, or experiment with a random object he’d found, and his Captain couldn’t care less about his shenanigans. So while his life was by no means perfect, he loved his job and knew how to turn any bad situation around – until he met Amy Santiago that is. 

She was a very nice desk mate, very professional, but also a little too professional if you were to ask Jake. One afternoon, Captain McGintley had to leave for a series of meetings over at One Police Plaza, and Jake seized the opportunity.

“Rosaaaaa!” Jake yelled as soon as the elevator closed, pointing at her from across the bullpen. “I hereby challenge thee to a fire extinguisher roller chair race. Loser has to do winner’s paperwork.”

Amy’s head snaps up and she exclaims, “Ooh, paperwork!”

Rosa gives her a weird look before agreeing, “Dope. I’m in.”

Gina’s all set up to video the whole thing for her fans when Amy cautiously steps up and says, “Hey, I know I’m new here, but are you sure we won’t get in trouble? And more importantly, are you sure this is the best use of our time? I have a binder specifically for how to be the most productive when the boss is out and if you look in the first tab –"

“I’m gonna stop you right there, Amy,” Jake says, “What the boss don’t know, the boss don’t mind. We don’t need to do any extra chores, the mice do those at night after we leave, and also, paperwork is soo boring it takes 5 hours per form.”

Amy tried her best not to look insulted while Jake, noticing this broken-robot facial journey she was taking, wondered if he had accidentally crossed a line and been rude. She’d only been there a week and he still hadn’t quite figured her out yet. She wouldn’t report them, would she? Not that he was super scared of that -- she would have to be a next level teacher’s pet to challenge the precinct’s number one detective in her first week… 

“It’s not the form’s fault,” Amy muttered under her breath, and at once Jake understood. She meant no harm, she was just very type A. She was definitely a complete teacher’s pet, but she wasn’t a butthead about it. It was also clear she wasn’t completely anti-fun, she was just stuck inside her shell. Challenge accepted. 

“How about this?” Jake proposed, “the loser has to learn Santiago’s color-coded paperwork method and use it on the rest of their paperwork for the rest of the week.” 

Santiago flushed. She definitely did not approve of this waste of time, but the opportunity to promote her paperwork style was too good. She was invested now. She pursed her lips as she thought about it and then looked at Jake, broke into a smile, and said, “I’m in.” Maybe his new desk mate wasn’t going to ruin work fun after all. 

X 

Over the next year, Amy learned that Jake had no shortage of creativity when it came to making bets. He would bet on perp hair color, Hitchcock and Scully’s meal choices, monthly murder stats, and it would have driven her crazy – she probably would have requested to transfer precincts – if he hadn’t somehow been so good at his job. He was a mystery to her. How could someone spend so much time goofing off and yet still bring in so many perps. She grew to respect him and trust his instincts, even if it took her much longer to admit this. Jake, on the other hand learned that yes, Amy was a completely adorable teacher’s pet, unironically enjoyed binders and forms, and her tendency to make work feel like work would have ruined everything except that she was a truly funny person that he enjoyed spending time around. He grew to respect her, trust her instincts, and admire her librarian-like discipline and knowledge.

“Time to do paperwork,” Jake groaned one day, “Perp name: Shmerp Derp, perp height: 5 million feet…”

“You’re not seriously going to hand that in are you?” Amy asked.

“Well he was taller than me so who’s to say he isn’t 5 million feet? Just because there hasn’t been someone that tall yet doesn’t mean they don’t exist! Don’t be height-ist, Amy!” he retorted.

“Yeah, Amy don’t be height-ist,” Charles chimed in, “Sorry Amy, you’re great, but you know Jake’s never wrong, man’s got bunches of hunches.”

“It’s physically imposs--“ Amy started to get into it before she changed her mind and said, “No, you know what, sure I’ll bite. Bring him in and when I see this five million foot person in front of me, I’ll pay off your car debt. If he’s so much as one foot shorter, you give me your car.”

“Jake, maybe just let me do your paperwork, this isn’t looking good for you,” Charles chimed in. But Jake put a finger on Charles’ lips. 

“No Charles, this isn’t looking good for me, but I’m liking this attitude, Santiago,” Jake’s eyes lit up. “Everyone, briefing room in 10 minutes!”

\--

“Ok. So clearly I can’t make this bet in good faith because my perp is definitely not 5 million feet tall. But I have a better idea. Whoever gets more arrests in the next year wins. And I’m gonna win, so sure, let’s bet the car” Jake chocked up and faked some tears as he finished his sentence.

“Damn, losing that car would be the worst thing in the world for you, Jake,” Charles said. Gina, clearly enjoying the thought of his pain, asked Amy, “Well what’s the worst thing in the world for you Santiago?”

Amy already had her answer of course; she’d been thinking about this ever since the bets started getting more intense. Jake was so good at picking out his opponent’s most embarrassing qualities and using them as bet fuel. He bet against Terry for his suspenders, and Charles for control of his food blog for a week, so Amy knew exactly how to call Jake out. “Being one of those girls in Jakes car,” she said with a sassy smirk.

Jake knew exactly what she meant – she’d made fun of him before. Amy had been in Jake’s car, of course, on many undercover missions. It was always full of trash, a few changes of clothes, and you couldn’t exactly pin down what the smell was – but for the first time he felt an unmistakable tinge of, well, emotion. As soon as he recognized the small little squeak of disappointment, he squashed that box up real quick.

X 

“How do you possibly convince people to go on dates with you in this car?” she had asked one stakeout. 

“Hey! I clean up very nice I’ll have you know,” he said cracking into a laugh, “just kidding, I clean up very mediocre, I just use my effortless charm and humor to distract them so they think nothing of it.”

“Right, right,” she responded, “and how’s that working for you, Mr. Clean?”

“Mhm, yeah very well, very well. Getting her dinner from a vending machine and bringing it back to my car to eat was a huge success.” They both laughed at the thought. Jake because it was a painful memory so the only solution was laughter, and Amy because she enjoyed laughing at the thought of him getting dumped so hard by that girl. 

At the end of that night he thought about how every other girl that had ever gotten into his car, no matter how well he cleaned it up, squirmed and tried to hide their judgement of his smelly old car, but Amy saw the car at its worst, didn’t hide her judgement of it’s smell at all, and still looked up and smiled at him. No one had ever truly called him on his bullshit before. He messed with her and she messed right back. He’d found his equal (and only barely winning the bet highlighted that). 

For a long time it looked like he was going to lose the bet hard. When the new captain, Raymond Hold arrived, he faced a steep learning (even when the only lesson was wear a tie to work). Over the year of the bet, work went from being incredibly fun (there was a bet to win) to incredibly tedious (now he had to show up on time and do his paperwork?!) to incredibly fulfilling. Sure, he was embarrassed the whole squad caught him calling the captain “dad” on multiple occasions, but he finally had someone who cared that he did well, that he grew up, took care of himself, and made him proud. It enabled Jake to care about himself too, to grow up and take more responsibility for his actions. 

So on the night of their bet date, when the captain asked them to take over on a stakeout, he agreed. Sometimes he cursed this man who made him all responsible and moral and all that crap, but this time he really truly didn’t mind. He and Amy sat on the roof, already a bit loose from a few drinks and a few ridiculous festivities he had forced her through earlier. As annoyed as she was to lose, she took it like a champ. She wore his ridiculous bat-mitzvah themed dress with a giant bow on the butt, and descended down her apartment steps in mock-princess fashion. 

“Alright Peralta where are you takin’ me,” she said with a fake flirty laugh on the end.

“Oh yeah, this is gonna be great. Love the energy Amy, keep it up,” Jake responded from his incredibly awkward and forced lean on the hood of his car. He spun around, did a cool key toss behind his back (dropped the keys, got on all fours to crawl under his car to get them), jumped up, threw some shades on and said, “let’s ride.”

“Jake. It’s dark. Take the sunglasses off before you get us killed.”

“As you wish m’lady,” he digressed, “Oh. And, uh, there is one last rule. You’re not allowed to fall in love with me.”

“Won’t be a problem,” she said as she stepped into his car. 

And it wouldn’t. She didn’t want anything to do with his messy finances, smelly car, or vending machine dates. He was a great partner, and she loved him for it, but 40 hours a week was enough Jake for her. What he didn’t realize is that he wouldn’t be able to not fall in love with her. 

Later on the roof of the stakeout, watching her throw handfuls of peanuts in her mouth, listening to her talk about her family and her college days, he found himself confessing his emotions about his childhood and his dad and felt more comforted and at home and okay than he had ever remembered being. And when the captain called to offer relief, he declined. He thought of all the silly things he had planned that they hadn’t gotten to and though they would really have been insanely fun, he couldn’t bring himself to leave this rooftop. He didn’t want the night to end. Amy, for her part, saw a new side of Jake that she would actually love to be around 40+ hours a week, but the thought didn’t get the chance to grow in her head. Amy spotted the perp and got in position to take him down. It was the first time Jake was ever disappointed to catch the bad guy. 

The rest of the night happened in slow motion. He watched her take down the perp in the bow dress like the true badass she was. He stole glances at her shiny hair and deep, brown eyes. She got in his car and he drove her home, but he didn’t want her to ever get out. He got home, fell into his empty bed, and put on Die Hard. But he couldn’t focus. He kept thinking of her laugh, of the time she was 10 arrests ahead of him and taunted him every minute, bragging about burning his car, and the way she threw a handful of peanuts at her face that night and said, “I figured it out. It’s all about volume!” He looked up and saw he had daydreamed through his favorite Die Hard scene, and immediately realized he was fucked.


End file.
